21c: Plague of the Black Womb
by cali-chan
Summary: A new dark force threatens the Xmen, and it's using Betsy Braddock's human boyfriend to create uproar. How can this be? Mystery looms over the mutants in Bayville, in the wake of Project Black Womb. Used to be 'Black Plague' but reposted for editing.
1. Prologue

**Plague of the Black Womb**  
by carla, aka cali-chan.

* * *

_  
Prologue_

A couple of teenagers snooped around the hallways of Bayville High School, a few hours after classes ended for the day. One was a boy, who seemed in a hurry to get to a specific room, and the other one was a girl, who was being pulled by the hand by the boy. She didn't seem to want to go where he told her, but she wasn't putting up a fight either.

"Devon..." the girl murmured, whispering, even if it wasn't necessary, since the school was practically empty. "Devon, this isn't necessary, really. I'm used to it. I can better that grade, you know it..."

The boy stopped in front of some lockers, making her almost hit him as she didn't notice. "I know you can better your grade, Betsy," he told her, turning to her without lowering his voice, "but I can't allow them to continue treating you unfairly just because you're a mutant!"

The young woman seemed to pale when she heart the last phrase. She opened her eyes wide, and almost broke out in a cold sweat. "Devon... shhhh! Don't say that out loud, someone could hear you!"

Devon almost laughed at the expression in her face. "Calm down, love. There's nobody around." Then his expression became tender, and he caressed Betsy's face with one hand. She closed her eyes at contact. "It's not fair that you have to hide who you are... you're worth ten times more than anybody like me."

She smiled, but wouldn't give in. "Even if that were true, Devon... I don't think you should be so impulsive. I don't care about what other people say about me, really. As long as I have you, I'll be happy. It's not necessary for you to get in trouble over such silly thing like this."

Now the boy did laugh. "Come on, Beth. It's just a little protest, it's not like I'm going to bring down the entire system..."

Betsy sighed. She knew she was going to lose this argument. It was easy to see, because when Devon looked at her with those baby blue eyes, she always ended up melting. And that's what happened, without saying anything else, the boy continued pulling her towards their destination.

Soon they both stopped in front of a door with a plaque on it that read "Principal." Devon opened the door with one hard push and with such a determined expression that Betsy couldn't repress her shivering. The man that was sitting behind the desk, after seeing and hearing such a ruckus, stood up immediately. Betsy moved to stand behind Devon in a pathetic attempt to hide from the threatening eyes of the school's Principal.

"Mister Stratfordshire! What are you doing!"

Betsy grabbed Devon's shirt on his back, to stop him from stepping forward. She had a very bad feeling about this situation, and didn't want anything bad to happen. Devon, on the other hand, had other ideas.

"Principal Kelly, I just came to tell you that from today on, I won't allow people to play favorites with a certain group of students only because the minority is... different. Discriminating people because their genes is completely immoral and I will try to stop it..."

"Listen, mr. Stratfordshire," Principal Kelly interrupted him, clearly angry. "On the first place, you have no right to interrupt me in my office in such a way, demanding such idiocy. I will make sure you're penalized for that."

"I'm not afraid of your punishments," Devon, replied, rebellious. Betsy tried to catch his attention again, but couldn't.

Principal Kelly continued speaking without paying attention to him. "And second, if you think you have a favoritism problem, I advise you to consult directly with the professor, and stop bothering me about it."

"I'm not moving from here until you listen to me!" Devon hollered, his tone flying up suddenly. Betsy noticed that he was clenching his fists so strongly that his knuckles were almost white. That made her worry even more. She knew Devon enough to know that he only did that when he was really, really mad. "Betsy earned an A+ on that project, and it's not fair that professor Sidney failed her just because she's a mutant!"

"Devon--"

"She is a wonderful person and she gives her studies her best effort. She's one of the best students in the whole school, for God's sake! And I'm not letting any repressed jerk screw her GPA up just because she's so much better than him!"

Betsy covered her ears. She didn't need this; she didn't even need the stupid grade. She just wanted to get out of there before Devon ended up getting into more trouble. But she couldn't run out and leave him alone...

Then she felt goosebumps all over her body. Scared, she looked up, and found Principal Kelly looking at her openmouthed, as if he'd never seen her before.

_She's a mutant. Filthy scum, they should all dissapear off the face of the Earth._

At that moment, Betsy knew she was completely shaking. With a doubtful hand she started to pull on Devon's sleeve, desperately.

"Devon... Devon, drop it, I-I want to go home..."

Hearing her, he knew she was about to cry and that effectively pulled him out of his defender of justice bubble. Worried, he turned to her. And just as he saw her eyes wide open, her pale face and the tears rolling down her cheeks, he realized what was happening. Obviously Kelly had offended Betsy, but he didn't do it with words.

"Wha-? Beth..." A little desperate, he turned to Kelly. "What did you think!"

The principal didn't answer, but Betsy kept telling him that it was better to go. He couldn't just leave it like that. "I know you thought about something that hurt Betsy! Bloody hell, what did you think!"

Kelly just looked darkly at them, almost hatefully. "Get out."

That was enough to make Betsy crumble, and she ran away from the office. Devon stayed a few seconds, looking back at Kelly, defiant. "I swear that I'll..." he started to murmur, jaw clenched, but before he could finish the phrase he ran out behind Betsy, leaving Kelly standing there by himself. Minutes later, he himself crossed his office to close the door forcefully.

Out of the shadows of the lockers a man walked out, looking in the general direction in which the two teenagers had run. And he smiled. So miss Braddock was a telepath. Very interesting. Maybe she would be useful after all...

* * *

author's notes!

this fanfic is being reposted, mainly because i looked it over and decided to move in a different direction-- i changed many of my key plot points and so i'm editing it now in order to take out some things that could become huge plotholes. this prologue is pretty much the same, but expect some things to be different in the first chapter, which i will post soon.

as far as canon goes, this follows the whole of the evolution series, save for that little "let's see the x-men in the future!" epilogue they added to the last episode. you can see what i concluded should be the timeline from the series and adjusted it to this story, at my website found at kyoudai dot net slash xmenevo slash pestetimeline dot html. comments about it are appreciated. oh, and the story itself will follow storylines from several of the x-men comic series and also the original animated version.


	2. Ch 1: What a nice surprise

note: cali is completely incompetent when it comes to accents, so she won't even try. i'll leave it up to you to imagine. but you will see kurt calling kitty "keety", because that's the way he pronounces it and i really love the way it's written ) you'll notice the absence of kitty's valley girl talk, but she doesn't talk that way in spanish so i have no reference point for that. also some words in other languages will be used (carla's having WAY too much fun with freetranslation dot com), but don't worry, i'll put a glossary at the bottom.

* * *

**Plague of the Black Womb**

_#1 - "What a nice surprise."_

If there is one universal truth that only those related to it want to deny, it's the one that says that teachers are sadistic spawns of the devil who enjoy making their students suffer through psychological opression. And Kitty Pryde, who currently had her head stuck in three different encyclopaedias in her first day of winter break, couldn't agree more. And that truth also stated that her History professor had to be the most sadistic of them all. Only he would assign a research paper, with a minimum of 15 pages, about societal division and economic activities of the first colonists of the Union to be turned in the first day of classes. Who would worry about that, anyway, when there were so many other things to think about, like for example going out to play in the snow, go skating, and go to the airport to pick up certain friends they hadn't seen in months?

Sick of it all, the girl threw her pen down on the notebook she was taking notes in. "You know? Sometimes I think that guy was never a teenager."

Her immediate answer was a poorly hidden snort. Kitty looked up to the ceiling to look at her work partner, Kurt Wagner, who at the moment was hanging by his tail from her ceiling fan, while he wrote on his notebook and laughed out loud at the same time, all of this upside down. "Sometimes I think that guy never had a life," he replied, with his distinctive german accent, laughing at his own joke. Kitty laughed too. "But you should look at the bright side, Kätzchen," he continued, his eyes moving from side to side as he wrote, "at least he let us work in a group. I think I would have hanged myself if I'd had to do this by myself. You know American History isn't my forte."

"Yeah, you're right. At least if you're helping me I won't die of boredom," she admitted, jokingly pulling on Kurt's hair, which was left hanging because of the position he was in. "But it's not faiiiiiiir..." she whined, at last closing her notebook.

Kurt smiled even more, knowing what Kitty was going to say. Carefully he flipped over and ended up sitting on the bed beside her, as lightly as a feline would have.

Kitty continued whining. "You don't know how much I wanted to go and pick Jean and Scott up at the airport! It's not fair that because of this stupid research paper we have to miss the trip."

"Aaaah. But we're not the only ones missing it, Kätzchen," Kurt started, raising his index finger like those little know-it-all kids in cartoons. "Meine schwester couldn't go either."

"But Rogue's just antisocial," Kitty threw back, standing up to look for her hairbrush on her dresser. "That was expected."

"Alex couldn't either," the boy added, moving the books and notebooks to the side with his tail so he could lay on the bed.

"Yes, but Alex should be up here studying with us," she replied, frowning, while se let her hair down so she could brush it. "I don't understand how that kid can simply not study. And it's his brother who's arriving! You know? I think that new surf videogame his parents sent him has him under a spell or something."

"Heh," Kurt sniggered, standing up and walking until he was behind her. "It's just that winter is not his favorite season, you have to understand," he commented, giving little 'horns' with his fingers to her reflection. "The army wasn't invited either."

Kitty frowned even more, thinking of the nickname the "older" students (Kurt, Rogue, Alex and her) had for the new, but not so new, recruits. "The army isn't as close to Scott and Jean as we are," Kitty sent back, sitting in front of her dresser to brush her hair. Kurt observed her from behind. "It's just that, you know, Kurt... I've, like, missed them so much! The Institute has changed a lot since those two went off to college. Scott wasn't here... the team was left without a leader! And we had no wise guy to guide us, and explain things to us, and help us escape from Logan when he got mad. And Jean! We were left without a nice, happy girl who gave us advice and supported us through it all." She paused in her brushing, sighing. "I don't know what I'm going to do. Next year you're leaving, and Alex, too, and I know Rogue's going to be here and all, but I'll still feel all alone."

"I can stay if you want me to, mein Kätzchen!" he quipped, with an ear-to-ear grin. Maybe a little joke would make Kitty feel better, he supposed.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly, Kurt. With all the mischief you've gotten into, I'm sure our teachers and our guardians want nothing else but to kick you towards the farthest-possible university there is."

Kurt's grin was not altered. "Ouch, Keety. Could we be less drastic, please?"

"Be serious," she told him, giving him one of those killer glares. "Really... maybe if I study real hard and get the best grades in the whole school they'll let me skip a grade and graduate with you guys! Do you think I could do it?" she asked.

Kurt mumbled that he was sure she could. Kitty shrugged, exclaiming a muted "Hey!" when Kurt took the hairbrush away from her hands. "Oy! Give me that, I was brushing my hair!" Her expression turned mock-sour when she saw the blue boy started brushing his own hair with her brush. "Kurt Wagner! You'll get my hairbrush full of fur... again!"

"But you have to admit I look wonderful, don't I?" he concluded, grinning brilliantly and winking at his own reflection.

"Gimme that, you crazy elf," she replied, laughing, while taking her hairbrush back to put it on its corresponding drawer.

"You hate me because I'm blue!" he exclaimed, putting a hand to his chest, over his heart, to add a little drama. It wasn't very effective, though, because he couldn't help but add: "But I know that, deep inside, you can't live without me. Mwahaha!"

Kitty rolled her eyes again. "Enough, Kurt. Stop it now and let's go back to the world of the history of the pilgrims."

Kurt couldn't help moaning dissapointedly. Obediently, he sat down on the bed putting their books in order and muttering something that sounded suspisciously like "jawohl, mein fuhrer." Kitty gave him another of her killer glares. "If we're lucky maybe we'll finish before Jean and Scott get here," she added, leaving her bossy tone behind, and sitting on the bed beside Kurt. "And maybe you'll even have time to go out with Amanda tonight."

Upon hearing that, Kurt's eyes widened. "Amanda! Ack, I forgot to call her! She's going to kill me... I'll be right back!" He said all of this very fast, and he then disappeared immediately, leaving behind a sulfur-smelling cloud of smoke.

Kitty coughed a little and looked up to the roof. Kurt always forgot the most important things. But anyway, shaking her head, she decided that it was better to continue with her homework than to wait for an hour for Kurt to let go of the phone. At least that way, the only one who'd stay up late working on his homework would be him.

* * *

Scott Summers kept a hold on his red shades while he looked around. There was a lot of people in there, and he had to be careful that nobody pushed him and made him drop his shades. The airport was very crowded. His flight had come in just a little while ago and now he was anxiously awaiting for Jean's flight to arrive. 

He hadn't seen her in almost a month. Because they were studying in opposite sides of the country, it was somewhat hard to keep in contact, and he really missed her. He knew separation was going to be hard, because they'd been living together since... well, it seemed like forever. But he never imagined that after starting an actual relationship with her, each day without her would be worse than the last. He made a point to visit her from time to time, of course. For example, the previous month, he decided out of the blue to go visit her for a weekend. He missed some classes and his car suffered a lot on the trip, but two days later he made it, and Jean's smile was worth all the effort. He only spent a sunday with her, but they both felt much better after that.

He looked over the wave of people coming his way, trying to locate her, but he didn't find her. According to the information desk, her flight had already landed, so she had to be around there somewhere.

That was going to be their first Christmas as a couple. They'd been wondering how they were going to get together for the holidays, since Jean was sure to be going home to her family and Scott was originally going to spend the break in Hawaii with Alex's family. But then news of the Christmas Family Reunion the Professor planned for this year came, and it would be the perfect excuse to spend all the time in the world with his Jean, before they had to go their separate ways again when classes restarted.

Finally, he thought he saw her. She was wearing a white coat that seemed very warm. Maybe all this time in the West coast had made her forget how cold it got in New York during the winter. She was pulling a little wheeled suitcase, and looking around, trying to find a familiar face. He threw his hand up in the air and shook it, trying to get her attention.

Jean finally saw him. With a big smile, she started dodging people around her until she made it where he was. "Hello, handsome stranger," she quipped, when she was close enough. "You waiting for someone?"

"Hmmmm..." Scott pretended to think about it, frowning. "Well, yeah. But she's not that important. I'm sure I can make some time for you," he concluded, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Ah. You'd better," she replied, and pulling him down by his neck, she kissed him.

They remained like that for a few minutes, giving the people around them a good show. But they didn't care... they'd been apart for a long time, after all. It was completely natural for them to want to feel close as soon as they saw each other.

"Ac-hem."

They both turned around to see Logan, who was looking at them with his arms crossed and a not-so-happy expression (but then, when was Logan happy?). "Ya two stop swappin' spit and move it. There's an army waitin' for ya back at the Institute." And without another word he turned around and walked to the parking lot.

Jean and Scott shared a glance and an eye-roll. Some people just don't change, they both thought. Scott bent down to pick up the handle of Jean's suitcase, taking Jean's hand on his free one, while they walked behind the annoyed mutant.

"Something tells me they're not going to let us sleep in the same room," Jean commented, somewhere between amused and worried.

"Then we just don't tell them," he proposed, with a smile. Jean laughed.

"You know, Scott? We should get Logan a girlfriend," she threw at him, one brow arched.

Scott looked at her like she had grown a third eye. "That's asking for a miracle, Jean," he affirmed, glancing at the burly man who at the moment was opening the door of the X-van with excessive force. Jean had no other choice but to accept that Scott was right.

--

Alex adjusted the thick coat he had around his shoulders while he pressed the correct sequence of keys on his videogame controller with his other hand. He was so cold he was very close to not being able to move his fingers. He frowned, annoyed. He knew that his idea of coming to live with Scott at the Xavier Institute would bring a lot of changes, but he had never thought about the weather issue. He should have pondered more about that. It was never, NEVER this cold in Hawaii.

Trying not to shiver, he looked around, somewhat resentfully at his friends, who were obviously not bothered by the temperature. Sam, Ray and Roberto, who were sitting on the sofa and the surroundings, radially around the videoconsole, where whining nonstop about how unfair it was that Alex, even not being able to move because of the cold, could beat them all on the 3-D surfing game. Ray seemed about to bust his controller against the floor, he was so angry.

Amara was on the floor behind the couch, writing a loooooong letter to her father explaining why he should leave bureaucracy behind for a few days to come and celebrate Christmas with her and the rest of the students at the Institute. Jamie was playing soccer with himself in the hall (the Jamie #12-#22 team seemed to be winning). Bobby was nowhere to be found, but he was surely upstairs missing Jubilee or talking on the phone with his new girlfriend (Lara? Lina? She had a weird name, Alex told himself). Piotr was probably outside, as he often was, reading or helping Logan with chores.

Rogue was around... somewhere, and Kurt and Kitty were locked inside Kitty's room, studying. Alex knew that he should be doing his homework too, but his excuse was that he couldn't think when it was so cold (or at least he couldn't think about homework, but when it came to videogames, it was another deal...). The boy was wondering if he should drop the childishness and go do the right thing, when the stairs were covered in ice and Bobby Drake came down, sliding in like a kid down a ramp.

"She's coming! She's coming!" he exclaimed, runing when he got to the ground floor. Everybody turned to look at him (except the ones who were playing soccer because Jamie #7 had just scored a goal and they were too busy celebrating to pay any attention to Bobby). The four boys who were in the room gave him a curious expression, while Amara looked at him sideways, and then continued writing, never minding him.

"Who? What are you talking about?" Sam asked, a little surprised by Bobby's exclamation.

"Jubes! I managed to convince her parents to let her spend Christmas here at the Institute! Isn't it great?" he said with a hundred-watts smile that almost didn't fit on his face.

Sam nodded, also smiling. "That's wonderful, man!"

"And Rahne?" Ray and Roberto asked at the same time with a dry voice, because they knew Bobby split from the world when he got on the Jubilee cloud.

Bobby at least had the decency to look sheepish. "Ah! Urgh, I knew I was forgetting someone..."

While Ray and Roberto stood up to chase Bobby all around the house (as it always happened), Sam laughed, happy. The Jamies resumed their game, taking on account that the score was now 3-1. Amara was still inspired, biting the end of her pen sometimes when she ran out of ideas. And Alex looked at the scene, not worrying anymore about the surf tables that were being taken away by the tide on the TV.

He didn't know Jubilee or Rahne, but he knew the X-men well. They were a big family. And no matter where they were, as long as they were all together to celebrate, he was sure it would be a very warm Christmas.

* * *

Devon leaned against the doorframe while listening to Betsy's melodic laughter, feeling his chest constrict. He felt bad. Betsy had become even more introverted than she normally was since they arrived at Bayville. Lately she only was the old Betsy that Devon knew when they were alone, or when she was talking to her brother on the phone, like she was at that moment. Brian and her had always been really close, and Betsy felt homesick when she thought about him, Meggan or England. 

He remembered well what had happened the day her mutant powers had manifested. While it wasn't traumatic for Brian at all because he'd been at home, that day had been Devon and Betsy's 2-year anniversary and they had decided to go to an amusement park.

Devon, who knew her better than anyone (except, perhaps, her twin brother), had noticed that she was acting different since they got to that place. She looked nervous, and every few minutes she'd stop and look at someone standing close-by with a strange expression, almost confused and scared. Devon asked her quite a few times if something was wrong, and she wouldn't stop telling him that she was fine, that he shouldn't worry, which was weird, because usually she told him everything that was bothering her without even thinking about it. It was a long time later that he found out that since they got to the park she had started hearing voices in her head, and was afraid that she was going crazy.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. Unfortunately for her, this happened when they were on the highest point of the Ferris Wheel. Her head started hurting really badly, and she stood up, raising her hands to her forehead, while yelling for someone to help her. Devon tried to hold on to her, to stabilize her, but there was nothing he could do. She lost her balance and fell. Devon could clarly remember that he felt that his heart was falling with her. He still had nightmares about that moment.

Of course, Betsy survived. Or better yet, an angel saved her.

Devon couldn't remember feeling happier than when he finally could get out of the machine and he saw her, somewhat shaky, in the midst of a multitude. He could only run to her and hug her, wishing he could hold her in his arms forever. That day he swore to himself that he would never let anything happen to her, that he'd always protect her. Even if he had to fight the entire world.

Even if she was physically ok, Betsy was never the same. Her powers affected her deeply. She had no control. Sometimes she managed to close off her mind and keep the voices at bay, but it was impossible to totally get rid of them. It was awful to look at someone's face and immediately hear things she didn't want to hear. Devon knew her pain more than anyone else. Betsy had cried numerous times on his shoulder, murmuring that she felt like a rapist and that she couldn't take it anymore. He could never to anything but be there for her and help her go through that new phase.

Some time later, in the beginning of that very year, the Angel, who they now knew was called Warren Worthington III, made an appearance at the Braddock mansion. He held something of a meeting with Brian and Betsy, where he explained that their new abilities were caused by the presence of a specific gene, called X-gene, in their DNA chains. The common term for people like them was "mutants," and there were many people in the world who had powers like they did. He himself was one (hence the wings), and that's why he knew exactly what the twins were going through. He wanted to help them. He told them that in Bayville, New York, there was an Institute that worked to train young, talented people like them to use their powers correctly, and that this Professor Whatever-his-name-is could help them. They just had to go to America as exchange students for a couple of months.

Devon couldn't help but feel somewhat jealous. The man had not only saved Betsy's life, but he could also help her.

The twins were ready to go, but Brian had some problems at school and wasn't allowed to go. Devon immediately volunteered. Betsy would be severely dissapointed if she couldn't go to the States and he didn't want to see her sad. If he could go with her, at least there was something he could do for her.

And so they made it to New York. They had already been close to three weeks in Bayville, and they still hadn't managed to schedule an appointment with that Professor. And things weren't going any better. Quite the opposite, thanks to that Institute, the situation in Bayville High had been going from bad to worse in the last few years, and that made things all the more difficult for Betsy. Not only did she have to listen to everyone's thoughts, but now 70 of the time they had to do with insulting people like her. Her mental state was very frail, and Devon had already had a few encounters with certain students who were convinced that mutants were the scum of the Earth. It was ironic somehow... he'd only just gotten there, and already he had more sanctions than some who had been in that school their whole life.

He heard Betsy exclaim: "Oh, really!", and that brought him back to reality. Thinking that it'd be better to give her some privacy, he decided to go for a walk. It was one of his ways to pass his free time, and he hadn't been able to do it much while in Bayville. Putting his hands inside his pockets and smiling to Mrs. Perkins (the lady they were living with) as a goodbye, he walked out of the house towards a nearby park.

When he got there, he spent a few minutes just watching the surroundings. A lot of kids were playing around, with their mothers watching closely over them. Young couples walked holding hands, happy to be together. Some senior people were sitting on the benches, enjoying the relative quiet. All were normal, just like him. They would never understand what it meant to be different. A separate species. A mutant.

"Mr. Stratfordshire... I wasn't expecting to meet you here. What a nice surprise."

Devon turned around and his expression hardened immediately. "Mr. Sidney. I'm sorry if this offends you, but you're the person I least want to see right now. Excuse me."

He tried walking away, but his professor grabbed him by his shoulder, and looked at him with a... strange smile. "I know I'm not your favorite person at the moment, Mr. Stratfordshire, but I assure you that you don't have to take what happened with Miss Braddock personally."

"Anything that affects Betsy, I take personally," Devon replied, looking at the man, his eyes filled with hate. "You know you were being unfair! That project was perfect! It deserved much more than an A! And you had no right to fail her just because of your prejudices!"

"Miss Braddock is your girlfriend, isn't she?" the professor asked him, with a curious expression. He almost looked thoughtful. "Tell me, Mr. Stratfordshire... how far would you go to help Betsy?"

Devon stepped away from him, cautious. "I don't know what's with you," he said, looking straight at him. He looked very suspiscious, and Devon didn't like that at all. Annoyed, he clenched his fists. "But I won't let you treat Beth as an inferior just because she's a mutant."

The professor's eyebrows shot up, and he let out a loud laugh. Devon couldn't decide between being scared and worrying even more. The guy was obviously a few screws short in the head... "I assure you that Miss Braddock's grade has absolutely NOTHING to do with that issue," he affirmed, with an insane gleam in his eyes. "Discriminating against Betsy for that reason would be like discriminating against her for the weirdness of her hair," he finished, hands on his waist and an amused smile on his face.

"Hey! Betsy's hair is not weird!" Devon exclaimed, feeling incredibly childish. Truth of the matter was, he was running out of arguments. "And of course you discriminate against her! Don't deny it!"

The professor shook his head, crossing his arms. "Feeling some kind of animosity against that girl because of her genes would be ridiculous," he replied. He thought about what his next words would be, and his shadow seemed to cover Devon in a scary way. With a cruel smile, he concluded his explanation. "Mostly because I am a mutant, myself."

Devon didn't even have time to think, when the professor started changing. His black hair and eyes, his pointy nose and his hollow cheeks started slowly moving, until Devon ended up looking directly to his own blue-green eyes.

Where just seconds ago Kevin Sidney had stood, was now standing a second Devon Stratfordshire, identical up to the last freckle, except in the triumphant smile that adorned his face, which didn't match the surprised and scared expression the first Devon now sported.

Mr. Sidney was a mutant. A metamorph.

* * *

Rogue looked up as she heard the doorbell ring. Since Kitty and Kurt had taken over her room, she had decided to take residence in Kurt's room until they finished. She had found the perfect corner to curl in with the latest Anne Rice book, all lights off except one, while the heating system did its work. 

But she couldn't read all that much if the sound of the doorbell kept on distracting her. She'd ignored it at first, because the house was full of people... surely someone could go and open the door. That theory was discarted, however, when the eighth consecutive ring of the doorbell happened, and it didn't seem like it was going to stop anytime soon. "Can't someone open the door!" she let out, somewhat mad, hoping that someone would hear her. Her only answer was a heavily german-accented "studying!" and a hand giving her the V-sign that came through the wall.

Rolling her eyes, she carefully marked the page she was reading and walked out of the room. Being careful to step heavily as she walked down the stairs so everybody would know how annoyed she was, she walked to the hall. She noticed that Jamie wasn't playing soccer anymore. From the abandoned videogame and the ruckus she could deduce that Bobby's chase had moved to the kitchen. Amara must've gone back to her room to have some privacy.

Thinking that it'd probably be Logan or Ororo who could've forgotten their keys, she opened the door without a care. Of all the people who could be standing on the other side, the tall, lean boy dressed in black and wearing a brown trenchcoat was not the one she would've expected.

"Bonjour, ma chere."

Still not believing that she was looking into those red-on-black eyes, Rogue frowned. "You? How the hell did you get here? How did you make it through all the security protocols?" Seeing the young man's smile widen, she shook her head, as if trying to think of a better question. "Old bucket-head send you on a visit? What do you want?"

The unexpected visitor decided not to respond if not with the truth. "Why so hostile, chere?" Leaning against the doorway, he looked straight at her, up and down, which really made Rogue feel uncomfortable. She was just about to slam the door on his face when the handsome southerner decided to continue speaking.

"Gambit came to join the X-men."

* * *

_Glossary-- words in German_

Katzchen: Kitty/kitten. Kurt's petname for our dear Shadowcat.   
Mein / meine: My. Like in the possesive modifier; e.g., "mein katzchen" means "my kitten".  
schwester: sister. He means Rogue, obviously.  
jawohl mein fuhrer: Yes, my leader. The phrase was used specifically for Hitler, and even if Kurt was probably not on that side of the conflict, I don't think he'd mind using it as a joke.

_Glossary-- words in French_

Bonjour: Good morning.  
ma chere: textually "my dear." Though just "chere" (dear) also works.

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author's notes! 

first chapter, done. not much changed in the edit, just one or two things that would've come back and bit me in the behind if i'd let them stay where they were.

- if anyone is curious, betsy's hair is purple. just dyed, nothing to do with her mutation.  
- MR. SIDNEY IS NOT MYSTIQUE. get the idea out of your heads.  
- alex decided to go live at the institute the summer after scott's graduation, almost immediately after the apocalypse deal.


	3. Ch 2: Getting too serious, too quickly

**Author:** Carla, aka Cali-chan  
**Rating:** PG-13 for now. Will probably move up to R towards the end, mostly for violence- it's coming somewhere in the future.  
**Genre:** Post-series, suspense, drama, action/adventure, romance  
**Canon:** The fic is situated after the last episode of _X-Men Evolution_, however it would be nice if you guys had some knowledge of what's gone on in the _X-Men_ comics, too, for I'll be bringing a lot of that into the fic. You could say this is me trying to put _X-Men_ (both comics and 90s TV series) into the _X-Men Evo_ timeline.  
**Disclaimer:** _X-Men_ and _X-Men Evolution_ belong to Marvel and I'm sure they'd sue me for my last penny if I came up with anything remotely similar and tried to claim it as my own- drat, there goes that P-Men idea! ;_;  
**Pairings:** Mostly _comic_ canon couples and some non-canon that I just love =b I don't wanna give it away. Just read the whole thing and if you don't like them, feel free to throw stuff at me ^^;;;

**Summary:** After the events of Apocalypse, a new dark force threatens the X-Men. And it's using Betsy Braddock's human boyfriend to create uproar... How can this be? Groups unite, friendships grow and mystery looms over the mutants in Bayville, in the wake of Project: Black Womb.

**Warning 1:** Hello, longest chapter of anything ever written! This chapter is more than twice as big as #1 was.

**Warning 2:** The flashback in the very last scene of the chapter (the Remy scene) might be a bit... disturbing to some, although I think it's not any worse than the comics themselves are. Still, be warned- things will probably get worse than that as the fic goes on. I haven't upped the rating to R yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to, eventually.

**Author's note: **Please don't forget to read my timeline for EVO and for this fic at kyoudai dot net slash xmenevo slash pestetimeline01 dot html.

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**Plague of the Black Womb**

#2 - "Getting too serious, too quickly."

Bobby put his arm around his girlfriend's waist as they walked back to her house from the movie theater. "So, did you like the movie?"

"It was ok," Lorna replied, tucking in a strand of her brown hair from where it had escaped from under her beanie. Truth be told, she didn't like the movie much- she was never one for action movies- but she did have a lot of fun. It was hard not to when you went out with Bobby Drake, he was the funniest person she knew. And she _had_ subjected him to many a romantic comedy, so she figured it was fair to let him choose once in a while.

"Did you talk to your parents about coming over to the Christmas party at the Institute?" Bobby wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he noticed that she became uncomfortable. "You didn't, right?" he sighed.

"I'm sorry," she looked downcast. "I just haven't found the right moment."

He let go of her and was quiet for a moment. Lorna knew he was bummed about her answer. "Are you mad?"

"I just don't get why," he stopped and put his hands inside his jacket pockets, looking at her with confusion. "I don't know why you have to walk on tiptoes around them, like one word is going to freak them out. They already accepted me; why would they have a problem with my family?"

_Family_, she didn't miss the word. She knew he didn't just mean his parents, he meant his friends at the Xavier Institute. She knew how important his housemates and teachers were to Bobby; they were a very tight unit. She'd met many of them at school, and it wasn't that she didn't like them. Quite the contrary, actually. But she was, for some reason, acutely aware that she wasn't really part of that family. "It's not that!" she replied, agitated, because he was getting this all wrong. "It's just... we've only been dating for a month. Christmas for us is a family holiday. They might think we're moving a little too fast and I don't want to scare them."

"Too many mutants at once might come as a shock, is it?" he snapped back, turning his back on her. He started walking faster and she started to get a little mad, too.

"Would you stop saying that?" She sighed, grabbing his arm. He stopped but he didn't look at her. "This isn't about your mutation, and you know it. My parents are not mutant-haters. They haven't been anything but nice to you."

"Then why? I mean, besides their mutation, they're all perfectly normal people. I don't see why you have to be scared... Unless..." He finally turned to her, apparently figuring out that the problem didn't really lie with Mr. and Mrs. Dane. "...It's you? You don't wanna go to the party and you're just stalling me?" She became quiet, and that was his answer. "Why don't you wanna go?"

She hugged herself lightly. "I don't know. It's not that I don't like your friends or anything, it's just that... I guess... Well, I've never been in that situation. Everybody would be just... looking at me. If I meet them individually it's ok, but... all at once?"

Bobby took her hand. "No one in the mansion is gonna make you feel weird." He could see she was still doubtful, though. "Ok, listen; it's not a big deal. If you think you'll be uncomfortable, you don't have to go." For a couple seconds she thought he was mad at her, but then he made a face and laughed. "Maybe it's a good thing you're not going- when the X-men are together, it gets pretty crazy!"

She smiled at him, happy that he wasn't upset. "Well, from what Amara tells me, you cause much of the craziness yourself!"

He gasped, and she laughed heartily. "Slander!" he exclaimed, clutching a hand to his chest in pretend agony. "I can't believe one of my best friends could concoct such crafty fabrication about me!"

"Big words don't suit you, Bob," she laughed more as he mock-glared at her. "And I'm sure it had something to do with the time you put pink hair dye in your teacher's shampoo bottle..."

"They should be thankful it was Dr. McCoy and not Logan!" he defended himself. Rather poorly, if she was honest. She laughed even more. "No, I'm serious! He would've been furious for _days_- not to mention he'd've made Shish-Ka-Bob out of me!" Seeing that Lorna couldn't stop laughing, he smiled at her, but continued on his tirade. "You know, it wasn't even that bad... pink on Dr. McCoy's fur only looked a little purple, there wasn't that much difference."

"You're one in a million, Bobby Drake," she shook her head at his antics. "And thank God- I don't think the world could resist two of you."

He winked at her and his arm came back to wrap around her waist. "It sucks that you're not going, though. I really wanted you to meet Jubes."

"Jubes? Who is he?"

"Jubilee. I've told you about her... Asian girl, powers like fireworks, who used to live at the institute last year?"

Lorna thought about it for a second and then it came to her. Bobby talked about her a lot, actually. They were obviously close friends. She wondered if she ought to be jealous. "Oh yeah, I remember her. She's coming back?"

"Only for the holidays. Though I'm thinking I should try to convince her parents into letting her stay." He looked up front and noticed that they were near Lorna's house.

"You could charm a rock into speaking," she assured him, with an amused smile. "I'm sure they'll let her."

"Glad to see you have so much faith in me," he gave her a lopsided smile as they reached her door. "I'll call you tomorrow, ok?"

She nodded and kissed him lightly, waving goodbye. She entered her house and walked towards the window, her eyes fixed in his silhouette as he walked down the street. She felt very guilty. She should have told him. She should have.

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Rogue wasn't aware someone else was near her until Kitty literally shoved a hand through her face.

"Ack! Kitty!" she exclaimed as she jumped back a good couple of feet. She glared darkly at her as the shorter girl laughed.

"Geez, Rogue, you must really want Gambit to stay if you're actually waiting for the news." She pointed to the door to Professor Xavier's Study, which they were currently standing in front of. Rogue had been staring at it like it held the answer to life when Kitty found her.

Rogue glared some more. "I could care less if that Cajun stays or goes," she sentenced gravely. She crossed her arms, and then, much in the same tone Kurt often used to sound innocent while explaining why Mr. Logan's Danger Room sim of a Magneto attack had turned into a Teletubbies episode, she added: "I'm just anxiously waiting to say hi to Scott and Jean."

Kitty gave her a disbelieving look. While it was true that Scott and Jean had arrived, and none of the students had seen them yet because they were ushered into the Professor's Study, without so much as a trip to their rooms to drop their bags, as soon as they arrived, Rogue had never been "anxious" about anything in her whole life, and Kitty was quick to point that out.

Rogue almost growled. "Ya know what? Think whatever ya want."

Kitty laughed. "If I didn't know you any better, Roguey, I'd say you're, like, all flustered."

"I'm not!" she turned her back on Kitty. Seriously, if Kitty weren't her best friend, she'd have strangled her by now. "Weren't you studying or something?"

Kitty sighed. "Yeah, but Kurt bailed out on me to go on a date with Amanda, so now I'm going down to look for Alex."

Rogue was about to reply something about how she wouldn't succeed, when the door to the Professor's Study opened and Dr. McCoy and Ms. Munroe came out, followed closely by Scott and Jean, who were trailed by Remy LeBeau himself.

"Jean! Scott!" Kitty ran to hug them and greet them.

Rogue waved at them from where she stood, but her smile turned to her usual scowl as the red-eyed mutant walked up to her. "Missed me, _chérie_?"

Rogue snorted. "In your dreams, Swamp Rat."

"_Mais certainement, mademoiselle_," he replied, with an obnoxious wink. Rogue glowered at him. If she could've touched him, her hands would've been around his neck and strangling him by then.

"See what we'll have to put up with every single day, Professor?" Scott sighed at the two of them as Professor Xavier rolled himself out of his study.

"I'm afraid you will just have to, Scott," Xavier shook his head at his first student. Scott may be a born leader and the telepath would trust him with his life every day of the week, but he couldn't forget that he was still young and impulsive, and he sometimes reacted as such a person would. "The bottom line is that Mr. LeBeau will be staying here at the Institute until further notice. No matter how irritating you, or anyone for that matter, might find him." Scott's jaw tensed, but he did not have one more word to reply to his mentor. Jean kept throwing him glances, as if to see if he would keep himself in check.

Rogue gaped at the Professor like he'd grown another head. "You're kidding, right?"

Xavier's eyebrows rose, though his expression remained serious. "I believe this to be in everybody's best interests, Rogue."

Rogue closed her eyes and mentally counted down to ten, trying not to react harshly. It didn't work, because she could feel Remy's eyes on her still. He was probably smirking, too, the smug bastard. She let out a growl and couldn't stop herself- she glared at Xavier. "Urgh!" she exclaimed, and promptly turned on her heels and left down the hallway.

Hank and Ororo looked at each other and chuckled, each thinking of how stereotypically teenager-like Rogue's reaction had been. Their laughter was interrupted by the sound of a door slamming upstairs; Rogue's, of course.

"Why is she so mad? She isn't usually like this," Jean commented, looking thoughtfully down the hall through which Rogue had just disappeared.

"Yeah, I thought she was anxious to see you two," Kitty commented, standing beside the taller redhead. "She totally forgot about you guys!"

"Remy tends to have that effect on the _filles_, _petite_," Remy said, leaning his arm on Kitty's shoulder as the four students looked in the same direction. The younger girl didn't seem to mind.

"Well, you better keep it in, Gumbo." All those who were present turned to see Logan finally come out of the Professor's Study, his sharp senses having caught all that had happened even if he wasn't in the middle of the conflict like the others. He leaned against the doorframe and glared menacingly at the Cajun. "Stay away from Stripes, y'hear me? Chuck mighta let you stay, and he must have a good reason, but I'll have my eye on you. One funny move and I'll make sure you can't move anymore. Got it?"

Remy reacted only by giving him a self-assured smile and a half-nod. "I wouldn't expect any less from you, _homme_."

"I'd like to see if he's still this cocky after a Danger Room session," Scott whispered to Jean, and she laughed quietly.

"Far be it from any of us to impede our friend here from voicing his opinion," Hank quipped to Ororo, who was shaking her head at Logan's threat, but smiling. That man wouldn't ever change.

Xavier also took the exchange with a grain of salt. "Thank you, Logan, that should instill enough fear in him to last for a while," he smiled at the burly man, who just grunted in response, knowing Gambit was much too insolent to be truly afraid of any threats he made. "Now, Remy, I believe you should go and get comfortable in your new quarters. He will be rooming with Bobby- Kitty, would you be so kind as to show him to his room?"

"Sure, Professor," the youngest in the group said, and started to guide Gambit to his destination. The two went down the hallway sharing some small talk; especially Kitty as she told him how pissed off Bobby would be that he'd be forced back to sharing a room, after having been by himself for so long.

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Kurt opted to teleport to the park that night; as much as he would've loved to spend all evening with Amanda, he did have a history report to finish, so the meeting had to be as brief as possible.

Carefully stepping out from behind the tree he'd chosen as an incoming location, he double-checked that his holo-watch was working properly, and then set out, with a light skip on his step, to meet Amanda at the bench by the one orange light post.

"_Guten abend, Liebe_!" he greeted her with a bright smile. "I'm sorry that it took me so long to get here, I was working on a History report," he cringed in an exaggerated fashion. "But I am very glad for the break and would not mind at all if you wanted to go get a Gut Bomb," he not-so-subtly suggested. She didn't reply, and it was then that he realized she was a little too quiet. She hadn't even greeted him back to begin with, she was just looking down at her hands as they twined and untwined, like she was nervous. "Amanda? Is something wrong?"

When she looked back at him, she was biting her lip. He wondered if he should be worried. She didn't leave him wondering for too long, though, as she quickly started to explain. "My dad got me a full scholarship to UC Stanford. A full ride. No requirements," she stated.

She had been very point-blank, but now looked up at him, expectant. He wasn't really sure what he should say. Stanford? That was on the opposite side of the country. Kurt knew this, of course, from Jean. He also knew that Stanford had always been Amanda's #1 choice for college. Once, when she was still in elementary school, her family had visited the University while vacationing in California, and she'd fallen in love with it. It had been her dream to go to Stanford since as long as she could remember.

Kurt, on the other hand, due to his... condition, had to stay close to the Institute, even when in college. He'd already applied and gotten accepted to a smaller University near Bayville (his visa status demanded that he get an early acceptance to ensure everything was in order). They hadn't really talked about what they would do next year- life had gotten too hectic for Kurt and the X-Men that summer, so they hadn't really spent a lot of time together lately. He knew she'd just sent her applications in, one to Stanford included, just to see if she would get accepted, although she wasn't sure what she would do if she was. Stanford was very expensive. She had mentioned that she was looking for financial aid.

Now, her father had gone out of his way to get her a scholarship. To a university on the opposite side of the country. That could only mean... "I thought your father wasn't bothered by my mutation," he asked, confused, and somewhat dejected.

"He's not," she hurried to interject. "It has nothing to do with you being a mutant. It's just..."

She paused, and Kurt could see her trying to measure her words. "I understand. It's not because I'm a mutant, he just thinks I'm a bad boyfriend in general. _Wunderbar_," he concluded, his tone bitter. And he had a right to be: after that incident with Todd Tolansky, he'd been nothing but attentive to Amanda's parents, trying to reassure them that he cared very much about their daughter and that despite that initial impression, his life was not a complete disaster. They seemed to genuinely like him, he'd been so proud of himself for regaining their trust. But now this... he didn't know what to think. He'd be lying if he said it didn't sting.

He didn't say any of this out loud, but she flinched anyway. "No, he just... he thinks we're getting too serious, too quickly," she tried to explain, but it came out a bit weak. He knew it was an excuse: in between the whole Apocalypse deal, their SATs and just trying to keep up their GPA on top of all the stress, they had barely gone on three dates in the last three months. He didn't know why she bothered trying to soften the blow, when it was obvious. "He's trying to separate us, I know, and I don't like it, but..."

He let it go, not wanting to upset her. "Alright, if you say so," he quipped, in a neutral tone. He sat down on the bench beside her and let out a chilly breath. "So... you're going to take it, then?" he asked, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

One of her hands rose to her forehead, as if to stave off a heavy headache, and then she turned around, looking straight at him. "I... I think I will," she admitted. Her expression was regretful but certain- clearly she didn't want to hurt him, but she knew what she wanted to do. "I'm sorry, Kurt. It's just... it's _Stanford_. Admission guaranteed. No requirements. I'll never get a better offer than that."

He couldn't lie to himself: it hurt. It hurt a lot. They hadn't been dating that long and they hadn't spent as much time together as he would've wanted, but he really liked her and he was happy in this relationship. "So... what about us?" he questioned, tone a bit clipped, but he was fighting the urge to simply BAMF out of there, back to the Institute. "Do we keep on?"

She didn't reply straight away. He felt uncomfortable in the silence. He took some space, stood up and paced a bit while he thought about things. Thank goodness his image inducer was working fine, because he was sure his tail was fluttering about as he moved, and that would be a bit hard to explain, even in the dark, if someone passed by and the hologram was off. "_Zustimmung_," he started, sounding conciliatory. "I understand; this is your dream, and you've worked hard all these years in school, so of course you deserve this. You do. You should take it; it's what you've always wanted." He walked back toward her, hands in his pockets. "And if you want to stay together, I know we can. It's simply going to take a little more... scheduling..." he frowned, as if already seeing the timetables in his head. "I mean, I'm sure it will be difficult," he continued, almost like he was talking to himself instead of to her. "But hey, Jean and Scott have a continent between them, too, and they're still together. And they are the most uptight people I know, so it can't be that hard, right?"

She smiled lightly, a rather bittersweet gesture, at his describing his two friends as "uptight." That was so _Kurt_; she would miss that. However, she wasn't very sure of the idea he had just proposed. "I don't know if I can do that, Kurt." She put her face in her hands, balancing her weight on her thighs as she leaned forward. "I don't believe in long-distance relationships. It wouldn't be fair to either of us, and... I just..." She sighed. "I don't think I'm that strong."

His first instinct was to disagree, but he held himself back. No need to make the situation worse by sounding desperate. He sat back down with a sigh. "So... we're breaking up, then," he stated gravely. He wished it didn't have to be this way. He hadn't really thought that hard about their future, but they'd always had fun together and he had hoped their relationship would last. He had not been expecting this. But if this was what she wanted, there wasn't much he could do.

She turned to him and took his three-fingered had in one of hers. "I'm sorry, Kurt," she said, eyes tearing up now. "I really, really like you. You're a great guy. I care for you, and I wish I didn't have to do this." She was sincerely apologetic, although it wasn't much of a comfort for him. "But I guess we just... have to take separate ways now."

He didn't know what to say, so he simply nodded. She stood up and looked at him, regretful. She seemed to be hesitating to say something. "I hope..." she finally started. "Maybe someday, when I..." She held tighter on his hand for a second, but seemed to catch herself before she could say something that would make things worse. He stared at her hand as she drew it back. "I'm so sorry," she repeated, then leaned in to drop a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you for being so wonderful."

And that was that. She turned on her step, leaving the park in the opposite way he'd come in. He saw her raise a hand to her face, and imagined she was wiping a tear away. Slumped on the bench, he gazed at her retreating silhouette as it retreated out of sight, and even for a long while later. His mind was reeling. He felt too dazed to move, but also he didn't think he could focus strongly enough to teleport back to the Institute. He'd try it a little later.

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Deena Giaomozzo, representative of the 18th Legislative District in the County Legislature of Nassau County, New York, was a fairly conservative woman, for a Democrat. She and her husband Benny had a fairly tranquil routine outside of the world of politics, and they both usually retired to bed at around ten at night, every night. Their neighborhood was very quiet, most of the time.

She was just getting into bed when she heard the crash coming from downstairs.

Now, as she stood outside her home in the middle of the night, a heavy coat guarding her robe-clad figure from the cold, she looked up to the message graffitied with red paint onto the left-most wall of her Glen Cove townhouse and the shattered window right beside it, and wondered if maybe the world of politics had now gotten so obtrusive that it had finally started to invade her home life.

She shook her head as the police lights faded away down the road. Her husband had gone inside to reassure their son and daughter, both of whom, although they were well into their teens, were still rather shaken by the act of vandalism. She couldn't blame them; she had opted to report the incident and deal with the police when they arrived at the scene, but she was fairly upset herself. They didn't have much to go on, to be honest: they had figured the culprit had to be a teenager by sheer virtue of the usual profile, and interviewing her neighbors had proven fruitless as her home was fairly isolated and whoever did this had fled the scene immediately- nobody had seen any strangers roaming around. The cops would hardly go CSI on a simple vandalism case, but the lack of evidence certainly didn't help matters.

But what was really bothering her was that she still couldn't find a good reason for anybody to want to vandalize her home. Nothing had been stolen anyway, while she knew young people these days graffitied "art," why would they break her window? Trying to leave your mark on someone else's property was teenage rebellion; throwing a rock through the glass pane of her living room window was, on the other hand, a felony.

"They want to make sure they've got your attention," the officer who responded to her 911 call had explained to her. She wasn't convinced. When "attention" was sure to mean her calling the cops on them, she didn't see how that could benefit them. The patrolman, short and with something of a pot-belly, whose mousy brown mustache twitched every time he spoke, apparently believed these punks thought themselves invincible because they were "special."

She didn't understand the message. She had nothing against these... people; she wouldn't want her kids hanging out with one of them, and she had to admit some of their abilities scared her deeply, but so long as they remained within legal boundaries, she didn't believe in taking any actions against them. She hadn't even taken a stand on that issue, politically speaking; she had never lobbied for causes either for or against these individuals, and remained neutral on proposals by fellow legislators who _had_ wanted to take a stand against. So why send _her_ this message?

She shook her head, confused, and walked toward her front door as she took her cell phone out of her pant pocket in order to call the Mayor and explain what had just happened. It seemed she'd have to get involved in the struggle now, and this incident had determined which side she was to take. As she reached the entrance to the house, she spared one more look at the single phrase that was spray-painted onto her cream-colored wall:

STOP MUTANT OPRESSION NOW.

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Kitty shook her head, still laughing as she made her way to her room. One had to give it to Gambit: He was an unrepentant crook, but he could charm his way out of anything if it came down to it. Now, Kitty was very, _very_ sure she wasn't his type (let's just say he had a thing for gothic southern belles, hint hint), but that didn't stop him from flirting. It almost seemed like an involuntary reaction- it just oozed out through his pores.

After dinner and the (almost mandatory) subsequent scuffle between Jamie and Ray in the Rec Room, she continued acting as his unofficial tour guide, and led him back to professor Xavier's office, exchanging banter with him all the way. ("Let's be serious, Remy: you're a professional thief and you're telling me you didn't instantly take note of the layout of this place?" "Well, _p'tite_, I can allow myself to be a little absent-minded if it means I can spend time in pleasant company..."). She briefly wondered what he and the Professor had to discuss that couldn't wait until morning, but it wouldn't be the first time Xavier scheduled a meeting at night; maybe Remy was having nightmares, much like Kurt did a while back.

She shrugged off her curiosity as she entered her room; whatever it was, it was between Remy and the Professor.

Closing the door behind her she walked in, making sure not to say anything to her roommate, who was sitting on her bed with an Ann Rice book which she was _most intently_ pretending to read, studiously trying to appear like she wasn't _at all_ curious about what Kitty and a certain Cajun had talked about. With a mental snort, Kitty made her way to her own bed. As she was about to lay down she took notice of her history books, which were still lying there where she left them at around noon, and which she had never come back to after Kurt left.

That's when it hit her: she hadn't seen Kurt at dinner, had she?

"Hey, have you seen Kurt lately?" she asked, a small frown marring her brow. She couldn't decide if she should be angry at the elf for ditching her when he'd told her he would only be out for half an hour or so, or if she should be worried he hadn't made an appearance for their evening meal. Kurt never missed Ororo's special chicken pot pie, especially since Ororo always saved him an extra portion that would normally be Kitty's if she actually ate meat.

Rogue blinked at her, as if she had been expecting some sort of question, but not _that_ one. Then, she shrugged. "I think I heard him scrummaging around in his room about an hour ago."

The younger brunette sighed, turning to look at the wall behind her bed. She was sorely tempted to just stick her head through it and check on him, but very early on she'd learned her lesson on phasing into people's rooms unannounced; it just wasn't polite.

(In fact, Kitty didn't know about this but Rogue had complained about the positioning of their rooms when she first came to the Institute- what guardian in their right state of mind would give a girl who could walk through walls a room right next to a boy who obviously had a crush on her? It was a moot point, though, since Kurt could teleport in, even if their rooms were on completely opposite sides of the mansion... and Kurt and Kitty never got together, so she let it go. They eventually learned that they should actually _use the door_ instead, although it took Rogue threatening Kurt with severe bodily harm if he ever 'ported into their room at six in the _bloody_ morning again, before he finally figured it out).

Resigned to having to walk all the way out again, Kitty headed to Kurt's room. The extra walking was good for toning her legs, she told herself. She knocked on his door once and got no answer. She paused for a couple of seconds before knocking again. "Kurt?" Still nothing, so she leaned her head against the door to see if she could catch any sound coming from inside. She heard some shuffling, and it was then that she decided that concern beat politeness and just poked her head through the door. "Kurt? You never came back to finish our report, you cheat," she started, trying to draw him out with a light quip.

She heard muttering that she couldn't really understand- probably German- and the lights were off so she had to squint to place him: he was sprawled on his bed, hands behind his head and looking up at the ceiling dejectedly. His spaded tail hung off the edge of the bed closest to her, swinging unhappily from side to side. Too quiet Kurt, brooding in the dark? Not good. Downright unsettling, actually. "Hey. Are you okay?" she asked him, coming up to stand beside him.

He sighed, and if she knew him well at all (which she _did_), he was just about to tell her that he was fine, and she wasn't having it. "No, you are not okay," she told him in a firm tone. He had better night vision than she did, so she was sure he could see her glare. "You missed dinner. I'm beginning to wonder if we should expect a repeat visit from the Horsemen, and, like, that's saying a lot, since I'm Jewish." He desisted on his intent to come up with an excuse. She pushed at his shoulder so he would scoot over, took off her slippers, and sat beside him on the bed. He lifted himself up until his back was resting against the headboard, the fabric of his long sleeve tickling her arm. "So. What's wrong?"

For a moment he remained quiet, presumably trying to put his thoughts together. "...Can I ask you a question?" was his final choice of words, in a low, careful tone that seemed alien to someone as exuberant as him.

"Sure," she responded without a moment of doubt, wiggling her feet a little bit. Kurt's bed was tougher than hers, but his bed sheets were soft and sleek. Probably so his fur wouldn't catch on it, making it a nightmare to wash. Laundry day was enough of a mess without excess blue fuzz to get out of the sheets.

"When you and Lance broke up, was it... was it mutual?" he asked her, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

His question put her on alert: had something happened with Amanda? "Well," she started as she pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "Yeah, pretty much," she admitted with a shrug. She laid her head against her knees, looking up at him. "I mean, it was sad, because I did care for him, and he did care for me. But after everything that happened with Mystique and Magneto and Apocalypse, he knew that staying here wouldn't get him anywhere."

She nodded, very lightly. "He really is an okay guy, even if he doesn't show it much. But... he's not really X-Men material either, is he?" Kurt snorted at that, and she made sure to elbow him for his cheek. "Don't. I accept that, you know. I wanted him to see that he's more than a thug, but I didn't want to _change_ him either. He's good in his own way. But he couldn't be that here; not after everything that happened. He had to go somewhere people didn't know him as Avalanche, member of the Brotherhood of Mutants and flunky of Mystique and Magneto. So, he decided it would be better to head west."

She hugged her legs a little tighter. "It, like, never even crossed my mind to ask him not to go. I could never go with him; the Institute is my home. But I knew he needed this, so we decided to go our separate ways. It was for the best," she finished, with a shrug.

That last sentence made Kurt sigh. "For the best? Yeah, I got that speech today, too," he let her know, his tone somewhat bitter. Who would've thought Amanda and Lance could have such a thing in common? At Kitty's concerned look, he explained. "Amanda's going to Stanford in the fall."

Kitty felt for him. She knew he really liked Amanda, and she thought Amanda was a great girl; she wouldn't have wanted them to separate like this. "Did she break up with you?"

The boy nodded, some of his hair falling into his eyes, which he swatted away with the tip of his tail. "She said she still cares for me, but she has to do this," he added.

Breaking up with someone you liked never felt like a good thing; that, she knew. She took one of his hands in hers, twining her small, creamy-colored fingers into his three furred digits. Her hand was so small when compared to his, but if she could help him feel better at all, it didn't bother her. "I'm so sorry, Kurt. That really sucks."

He nodded, recognizing her sympathy, and gave her hand a quick squeeze. He was silent for a couple of minutes, until finally he shook his head. "I just..." He leaned his head back against the headboard for an instant, before turning to look at her directly since she came into the room. "_Verdammt._ I don't know how I'm supposed to feel," he admitted, crossing his left leg under his right as he leaned turned to her side. "Should I be happy that she's following her dream? Should I be angry that she broke up with me? Sad? What?" He let out a huff and leaned his free arm against the back wall, not entirely looking for an answer.

Kitty wasn't sure if she was the right person to give him romantic advice of any sort; she'd only had the one boyfriend, after all. But then again, she'd never heard him speak of any previous girlfriends either (and considering he didn't have his inducer before he came to the Institute and couldn't attend school, it was very likely this was his first relationship). She'd had at least a few months head start on him when it came to getting over heartache. "Probably all of the above," she let him know, giving him a small smile. "Look, you care about her, so it's understandable that you're happy she got this shot. And yet you had a good thing with her, so it makes sense you'll miss that. It's confusing, but that's the way it works." She shrugged. "And it'll get better eventually," she added. "I mean, look at Lance and I: we're friends. We write. A few weeks ago he was in South Dakota. I could show you some of his letters, if you want," she offered.

He chuckled in a most annoying fashion, which almost had her convinced she'd pulled him out of his funk. "No, thank you. I would rather not know what you two talk about."

She laughed, pretending to be offended. "Perv!" she exclaimed, giving him a light slap on the shoulder. He smirked. "But no, seriously. We're good now. Every once in a while, he writes to me and tells me what's going on in his life. Snail mail, not e-mail- it's kind of fun. Kinda makes me feel like I'm in a Victorian novel." She giggled.

That made him laugh, finally. "Only you, Keety," he quipped, shaking his head in amusement.

She winked at him. "See! That's the spirit." She put her hands on his shoulders, directing him to look straight at her, so he could see she meant everything she told him. "It'll get better." She leaned forward and hugged him tightly. "It'll be alright, Fuzzy. I promise."

He wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her closer to him. "_Danke_, _Katzchen_," he told her, honestly feeling a lot better than he had in the last few hours. He didn't know how she did it, but she always could cheer him up. One wouldn't think that given the way the pair was always goofing around, but whenever he needed her, she could work magic. She was his best friend.

She gave him one last squeeze, and then let go, giving him an excited grin. "Right. So come on: you missed dinner and I think it's just the right time for a late-night snack."

"Are you going to feed me Rocky Road ice cream straight from the carton like girls do in movies when they have boy troubles?" He asked, impish, as she got off the bed and put her shoes back on. "Not that I would be opposed to that, of course," he added, with a shrug. Yep, that was her good old Kurt back.

"Actually, I was thinking of making some sandwiches," she told him, looking more like she was still pondering the idea.

She didn't miss the way his yellow eyes slightly widened, or the way he stopped in his tracks for a second while getting up off the bed. "Uh, maybe we should check to see if _Frau_ Monroe saved me some of her delicious chicken pot pie, instead?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, come off it, Kurt! I am totally capable of making a decent PB&J sandwich if I want to." She put her hands on her hips, glaring at him as she always did when someone brought up that she was a bad cook. Uh oh, Pissed Kitty Pose (tm). And what was he just saying about her being magical? "It's just bread, peanut butter, and jelly. No way it can go wrong!" She finished, although Kurt personally thought that was tempting fate. He kept this to himself, though, as she extended her hand to him so he could teleport them both to the kitchen.

"And, um, _ja_, I agree, but don't you think it would be rude to let the food go to waste after she so generously saved it for me?" he tried to negotiate, grabbing the hand she was offering.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, puh-lease. You don't even know if she saved you anything yet..." The rest of their argument went unheard as with a BAMF, they both disappeared from the room, leaving behind only the usual cloud of smoke.

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Scott forced his lips away from Jean's and looked urgently around the room, his breath heavy from making out with his girlfriend. "Did you hear that?" he asked her, anxious.

Jean hummed under her breath, barely even registering the question. "Hear what?" she asked sounding wholly unconcerned with it, considering her current position. She leaned in and started kissing his neck before he could even think of replying.

"It sounded like an explosion," he explained further, still looking around with a frown.

Was he whispering? Seriously? Every room in the mansion was soundproofed. She ran her hands up his torso, coming to his shoulders to try and push his shirt off. "It was probably just Kurt, 'porting to the kitchen," she reassured him, recognizing that he wouldn't let it go until she acknowledged hearing a noise. "Surely we haven't been away so long that you forgot he's always hungry?" Her reminder made little difference, though; he remained very still, almost stiff- and not in the way she wanted him to be, either. She sighed. "Scott?"

"Maybe we should go take a look," he suggested. And totally blew the moment.

Jean bristled. "_Really_, Scott? Are you telling me you can't get out of fearless leader mode even when your girlfriend's in your _bed_, _half-naked_, on _top_ of you?" He stared back at her, she was sure in utter confusion, even though she couldn't see his eyes behind his glasses. Okay, that was it. She shook her head, exasperated, and pushed away from him, intending to get off the bed.

"...Wait, what?" was Scott's eloquent reaction, the fact that she was leaving only hitting him around the time she started picking up her clothes. "Jean..."

She was muttering under her breath as she struggled to put on her jeans. How undignified. "Ugh, men are so _stupid_," she told herself. He heard it, too, very clearly.

"Wait, Jean," he rushed to catch up to her as she grabbed her shirt to put it on. Grabbing her by her arm, he brought her close to him. "I'm sorry," he told her, bringing one hand up to cradle her face. He kissed her temple softly. "I'm an idiot, I know." He leaned in to kiss her lips very lightly, in a kind of silent apology. "I'm just... deathly paranoid that Logan is going to catch us in the act," he admitted.

She sighed. She could understand him to a point: this was rather new to them. Oh, they'd made out plenty around the Institute back when they first got together, but out of respect to the fact that they were still under the Professor's tutelage, they'd held off on intercourse until they were out of the mansion and college-bound. It felt odd now, to know that they'd be having sex just a couple doors away from the people who had raised them. People who, by the way, had enhanced senses and/or could read minds.

Still, they were adults now, and they loved each other, and this was only normal. "If he comes anywhere near this room, I'll be able to sense him," she assured him in a soft tone. She closed her eyes; he had one hand on her hip, the other one brushing against the small of her back, fingers lightly playing with the ends of her long, red hair. She loved it when he did that.

"I know that." He nuzzled and kissed her earlobe, tenderly. "But what if you're too distracted to notice?"

She laughed. "Wow. Confident, are we?" There was a glint in her eyes as she teased her hands around him, near the waist of his pants.

He chuckled. "Well, it _has_ been a long time." And it had been: One whole month of separation. They both missed this, the intimacy. But most of all, they missed just being together. Talking, feeling that closeness, sharing moments- it just wasn't the same over the phone.

She had to kiss him. She brought him down so she could reach him, letting out a contented sigh as her lips met his. He deepened the kiss quickly, wrapping his arms fully around her so that she was pressing against him in all the right places. "So let's just stop worrying about everyone else and make the best of the fact that we're together," she told him as they wound down for a second, her lips grazing his as she spoke. Now she was breathing heavily, too.

He simply nodded and captured her lips again, more than eager to be with her. She pushed him toward the bed as he made quick work of the button of her jeans, her stepping out of them in turn. They were left on the floor again, but this time she was confident she'd only be putting them back on in the morning.

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Remy had to admit he was feeling a little unnerved.

This was a strange thing, as Remy was so confident (some might call him _over_confident) that very few things managed to phase him. Oh, he wasn't a stranger to outright fear, certainly, but it wasn't normal for him to feel this- this rising dread of sorts. It was odd.

Of course, this wasn't exactly a normal situation, either. It wasn't every day that he allowed a telepath to poke around in his mind, let alone one like Xavier. The man didn't even need telepathy to figure out things, he was sure. Professor X always had an air about him like he could see everything... like he _knew_ everything.

_That_ was unnerving.

Remy wasn't sure if this was supposed to be how these things worked, or maybe the fact that it was so late at night was making him feel even more on edge. He hadn't really paid much attention to what the Professor had explained to him about mind-reading- all he knew was that Xavier had started muttering something about mental barriers being weaker at night, and told him to meet him in his office at 11 pm. The long explanation was probably more for Summers' and Wolverine's benefit. They weren't thrilled about Remy staying in the mansion, let alone him meeting the Professor in private.

Now, Gambit had no problem with a nocturnal schedule. Given what he did for a living, being wide awake in the dead of night was practically a job requirement. He didn't feel any such "mental barriers" coming down, personally, but if that weird, creeping feeling was any indication, he'd say this mind-reading thing was working.

Normally, he wouldn't take this risk. But he needed Xavier to see what he had seen, so the X-Men could do _something_.

_Who is that man, Mr. LeBeau...?_

Remy was remembering a scene from long ago: A man wearing a long, dark coat and a black, wide-brimmed fedora, his features shadowed by the vegetation of the bayou, walking up to his house, with a younger Gambit, looking barely into his teens, looking on from the window of his room. The man had called himself Nathaniel Essex, but Remy was sure that wasn't his real name, because Jean-Luc had checked him out when he first contacted the Guild, and couldn't find anything on him.

The man had intended to hire the Thieves' Guild to find someone for him. However, he arrived at a rather tumultuous time for the group, as Remy's bio-kinetic powers had recently activated, and were out of control. Essex took advantage of that: he was a scientist- a doctor of some sort, and interested in the X gene and the effect it had on its recipients. He offered to study Remy for a period of time, and try to find a way to eliminate this ability that was endangering the boy and everybody around him. Jean-Luc and the rest of the Guild jumped at the opportunity.

Remy never got a good look at the guy; he was too out of it by then to notice much. Essex had him moved to some sort of dark laboratory- it may have been underground, he wasn't sure. He had tried to look for the place afterwards, but never found it again. Inside the laboratory there was a containment chamber where he was kept for months, heavily sedated, while Essex studied his blood, his tissue, his brainwaves, trying to find a way to selectively remove his bio-kinetic ability. His only contact with the outside world was a woman named Faye Mueller, who was apparently Essex' assistant; she was the one who would come in and feed him, move him around so his muscles wouldn't atrophy due to inactivity.

After about three months, Essex presented Jean-Luc with a solution to Remy's problem: He'd managed to localize the area of the brain which controlled Remy's powers. He would perform a complex brain surgery on the young man, which would eliminate his newest ability. Jean-Luc, fearing for his adoptive son's life, agreed. Next thing Remy knew, he still had the ability, but he could control his power perfectly.

He didn't find out about this until much later, but Essex had not been satisfied with that. His intention had been to completely eliminate Remy's bio-kinetic abilities, but he'd made a mistake, apparently. He demanded they let him study Remy further; Jean-Luc refused, threatening Essex' life if he ever tried anything else on Remy. Essex, being a regular human with no abilities to go against the whole of the Thieves' Guild, relented, but as payment for saving the boy's life, he requested that the Guild attend to his original request: finding an elusive group of mutants with isolating physical mutations, which he desired to study.

Gambit himself was sent out on this mission, once he'd recovered from the operation. He traveled all over the country, gathering information from his underground contacts. It took him almost two years to find what that man was looking for, but he did, and with that he fulfilled the Guild's responsibility on the Essex matter.

As he returned to New Orleans, he got in contact with Faye Mueller, to let her know what he had found; she was his only contact with Essex, as the man seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth. When he saw her again after those few years, he saw a different woman altogether. Not physically, but psychologically: something had happened... there was something wrong with her.

When he told her where these mutants were, she remained silent for a few seconds, staring off into space like she wasn't quite there. After about a minute, she calmly typed the information into a computer, hit enter, and shut it down. Then she turned to Remy with a serene smile. "He's going to kill them, you know?"

Remy was shocked into silence. He was not expecting her to say that. He didn't really believe her at the moment; the woman clearly _had_ to be crazy, but how could one respond to that, either way? He was still debating this when he saw her move to open a drawer on her desk. She pulled out a handgun, put the barrel to her mouth and pulled the trigger.

He had never seen so much blood in his life.

A shell-shocked Remy made his way to his father, and explained what had happened. Jean-Luc decided it was best if they remained uninvolved with Essex from now on; everything related to that man was crazy, and dangerous, and Remy very much agreed with his father on that. What Remy did not agree with, was the fact that his father had allowed Essex to _experiment_ on him. He had found out about it by accident, really, but he didn't like it one bit. Despite Jean-Luc's argument that it was the only viable option at the time to save Remy's life, he wasn't buying it. And when Jean-Luc revealed that Essex had displayed some interest in further experiments on his mutation, that was the straw that broke the camel's back for Remy; within two days, he was out of New Orleans and out of the Thieves' Guild forever.

After having learned the truth, Remy started seeing Essex everywhere. He convinced himself that he was simply paranoid; after all, he was not one to be unnerved easily. But the image of the coat and hat among the shadows stayed with him, and would be branded in his mind for the rest of his life.

"It was one of the reasons I started working for Magneto, actually," Remy admitted, once Xavier had stepped out of his mind. "Well, no, mostly it was the fact that the pay was good," he corrected, with a shrug and a smirk. "But some part of me figured if I was working for someone so powerful, there was no way Essex would come near me."

But this time... maybe his paranoia had grown rampant because he was in New York, or maybe he had just gone completely 'round the bend, but this time he was sure he'd actually seen the crazy scientist in the flesh. And the only person he knew who could confirm this was Charles Xavier.

"So? Was it him, or am I hallucinating?"

Xavier was silent, examining his thoughts for a few stretching minutes. Remy grew even more uncomfortable under the scrutiny, if that was possible. Finally, the telepath came to a conclusion. "I believe you believe you really did see him, Mr. LeBeau."

Remy groaned. "So you don't know, either."

The Professor shook his head. "When it comes to memories, there is no certainty. The human brain is very good at convincing itself that a lie is the truth." He rested his elbows on the armrests of his chair and pondered, his expression hidden behind his hands. "However, I do believe it is something we should look into. If there _is_ any truth to this, and this man, Nathaniel Essex, is looking to harm this group of mutants, then the X-Men must definitely take action against him." He looked at Remy and tried to offer him a supportive smile. "In the meantime, Remy, please go ahead and rest for the night. The upcoming days are going to be busy with one event or the other. You can think of this mansion as your new home."

Remy nodded, got up, and headed for the door. He dreaded that word, "home." Thieves don't really have homes, they don't have roots, they're people of the streets; the closest he had was New Orleans, and his own home had betrayed him. But he knew that Xavier meant that he'd be hanging around the X-Men for a while... he was the only one who had any information on Essex, and they were going to need him in order to find the sicko.

He wished he could just run away from it all. He didn't need to be involved in this; he didn't have to care what happened to other mutants so long as he walked out of it unscathed. However, after the whole ordeal with Magneto, Apocalypse, working with the X-Men... these people had changed him. He didn't know when or how it happened, but he had started to care. And now he couldn't just up and leave, like he would have just a few years previous.

He was about to open the door when he heard Xavier call on him again. "Mr. LeBeau?" Remy turned to look at him, hand still on the doorknob. "Who were these mutants Essex was looking for?"

Remy shifted his weight to one leg as he turned fully to the Professor. "They're called the Morlocks."

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**Author's notes!-** Dun dun dun! Look, it's plot! xD No answers to the questions posed last chapter, not really, but all I can say is: if you've read the comics and you recognize the name "Nathaniel Essex," you probably have an idea where I'm going with this. ;) In fact, if you recognize any of the new characters, be sure to let me know! Hint: one of them has a name compounded from two comic characters.

For the record, Essex would normally wear a top hat instead of a fedora, but I decided to give him something different because I thought a top hat would be a little too lulzy.

Any similarity between Deena Giaomozzo and the _actual_ current representative of the 18th Legislative District in the County Legislature of Nassau County is purely coincidental. Okay, maybe not _completely_- I did intend to make their names at least sound somewhat alike, but apart from that, everything is coincidental. I don't know anything about Diane Yatauro or her stand on racism of any kind, so don't get me in trouble over a fanfic, now. Not my fault Bayville just _happens_ to be in her Legislature.

If you notice a big stylistic difference between the first two scenes and the rest of the chapter, that's because the first two scenes were written _literally_ like three years ago. I could re-do them and make them better, but I have a soft spot for them, so I won't. And good thing for you, because that meant you didn't have to wait any longer to see this chapter! =P

Let us hope this bout of inspiration sticks. After not writing anything for this fic in years, I'm ecstatic to have finished this chapter. See? I don't abandon my fics! x3 Hopefully it won't take me as long to finish chapter 3. See you guys when I see you!


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